I will protect your pensions. Nothing about your pension is going to change when I am governor. - Chris Christie, "An Open Letter to the Teachers of NJ" October, 2009

Friday, October 10, 2025

When It Comes To School Finance, Ciattarelli Doesn't Know Jack: Part 2

Can anyone explain Jack Cittarelli's plans for school funding in New Jersey if he becomes the governor? Because he can't.

Take, for example, this from his website:

Jack will reform the state school funding formula, set a statewide standard on per-pupil spending and then allow that money to follow the student, while instructing the State Department of Education to get off the backs of higher-performing districts while concentrating on under-performing districts. [emphasis mine]
What, exactly, does it mean to "set a statewide standard on per-pupil spending"? If we're to believe this story from InsiderNJ, it means, believe it or not, a spending cap:
  1. Replace the current school funding formula with one that standardizes and caps per pupil spending and rewards – not punishes – high-performing school districts that have seen funding slashed, schools closed, and extracurricular activities cut under S2.  Also, make the state pick up 100% of the cost of special education.

I've been busting on Ciattarelli for the past few posts, but it's fair to say many politicians and pundits, both in and out of New Jersey and on both sides of the political aisle, have adopted this same framework. In their world, "high-performing" school districts are suffering from slashed budgets while "under-performing" districts spend like bandits but get bad results.

Of course, it just so happens the "high-performing" districts are majority white and Asian, while the "under-performing" districts are majority Black and Latinx/Hispanic. But folks like Ciattarelli will never mention the very well documented history of systemic racism that created the segregation that plagues New Jersey and other states. And they will never admit that this is why communities of color need more state funding for their schools.

These school districts are educating the most disadvantaged children—but they have the smallest property tax bases. So they can't raise adequate local funds without sky-high property tax rates, which is why the state has to step in and provide funding. This is basic stuff, folks: School Finance 101. If you're going to be governor, you've got to understand it.

But if you listen to what Jack Ciattarelli says, it's clear he just doesn't get it. Or maybe he does—but he's too scared of his Republican base to tell them the truth. Instead, he continues to parrot right-wing nonsense like this:

Our property taxes are the highest in the nation, not necessarily because of municipal and county budgets, upon which [a governor has] no real power. Where I could have real influence is the school tax, and that’s because of state aid. So, we need a new school funding formula. The current one is nefarious. It’s arbitrary and violates the equal benefit clause of our state constitution that says no community is supposed to suffer at the expense of another. So, with a more equitable distribution of state aid, we can lower property taxes. The cost per pupil in a place like Newark is $37,000, while the state average is $16,000. No one can justify to me that a particular student needs $21,000 more per year to educate them. That makes a compelling case why the current formula is unfair. Does that mean I will leave a community or student behind if that school district isn’t performing well? No. I believe in a voucher system, like we’ve seen in Arizona, Ohio, and Florida. I also believe in school choice, and charter schools to achieve that objective. 

As I noted last time, the data says Ciattarelli is full of it.

DistrictTotal Current Spending, FY2023Pct. Poverty, 5-17 yer-olds (2023)Pct. English Language Learners (2023)
Newark City$28,63130.0%21.6%
All other NJ districts$25,40811.2%8.3%


According to valid federal data, Newark does not spend $21K per pupil more than other NJ districts. But let's take this another step...

Because that figure for "all other NJ districts" is an average. Which means some districts spend less, but some districts spend more. Given Ciattarelli's worry about the "nefarious" school funding formula, it's worth asking this question: Are there any affluent, suburban, majority-white districts that spend more per pupil than Newark?

Yes. Quite a few, in fact.

The table below uses the NJ Taxpayers' Guide To Education Spending. The figures are for the school year 2022-23: this is the latest year of data showing actual, not budgeted, spending.* I use the "budgetary spending" figures, because as NJDOE itself notes: "These costs are considered to be more comparable among districts, and may be useful for budget considerations." 

The districts I compare to Newark are all relatively affluent, as judged by the NJDOE's District Factor Groups (DFGs). I only include those districts in DFGs "GH,""I," or "J," the highest categories of socio-economic status. This also excludes vo-tech and charter schools.

There are 92 affluent New Jersey districts—almost all majority white—that spend more per pupil than Newark. Yet Newark's students are far more likely to be in poverty and to speak a language other than English at home.

I've included some other data (coming from school aid notices I obtain through Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests). The last column shows the total property value for each school district, divided by the number of enrolled resident students. Notice how small that figure is for Newark compared to the suburbs. This is a legacy of racist housing practices that continue to suppress property values in communities of color, making it far more difficult to raise funds for schools.

See, property taxes are based on property values: the taxes are based on some percentage of the value of the property in a school district. When property values are low, it's hard to raise funds; the property tax rate has to be set higher than in district with relatively high property values just to raise the same amount of funds.

Because of systemic racism, communities like Newark have lower property values than majority-white communities. It is, therefore, much more difficult for them to raise money locally for their schools. This is why they MUST have more state aid.

The NJ courts have ruled on this over and over and over again: Communities of color need more help from the state because 1) their tax bases are low, and 2) they serve more children in poverty. The NJ Supreme Court sent the NJ Legislature back to the drawing board three times before it said the state finally had a school funding formula that acknowledged this reality.

And now Jack Ciattarelli wants to blow the whole thing up. He wants much higher taxes for Black and Hispanic/Latinx towns and cities. He wants less help for the schools that enroll the most vulnerable students. And, apparently, Ciattarelli wants to cap school spending for almost 100 relatively affluent districts that spend more per pupil than Newark -- that is, of course, unless he is a screaming hypocrite.

Is he?

In addition, instead of real help, he offers communities of color school "choice." More on why that's such a horrible idea next.


DistrictPct. WhitePct. Free or Reduced-Price LunchPct. Multilingual LearnerDIstrict Factor GroupBudgetary Spending per pupilEqualized Housing Value per pupil
Newark Public School District7%74%29%A$20,026$263,176
Northern Highlands Regional High School District68%1%0%J$20,031$1,642,773
Montclair Public School District51%16%3%I$20,043$1,428,397
Alexandria Township School District85%9%2%GH$20,140$1,273,521
Manasquan School District83%13%2%GH$20,159$3,609,315
Woodcliff Lake School District76%1%2%J$20,163$2,125,023
Lafayette Township School District74%6%1%GH$20,172$1,346,024
Holmdel Township School District67%3%2%I$20,265$1,579,862
Rumson Borough School District91%0%0%J$20,378$3,222,648
Chester Township School District70%6%3%J$20,448$1,524,677
Lenape Regional High School District68%17%1%GH$20,471$986,472
Hillsdale School District69%9%2%GH$20,491$1,240,179
West Morris Regional High School District75%1%1%I$20,571$1,384,446
East Hanover Township School District66%3%2%GH$20,638$2,647,735
Wayne Township Public School District67%12%5%GH$20,648$1,474,833
Somerset Hills Regional School District64%19%9%I$20,651$2,375,537
Clinton-Glen Gardner School District70%19%4%I$20,676$1,012,442
Montville Township School District56%3%4%I$20,706$1,560,431
Freehold Township School District71%17%2%GH$20,813$1,410,221
West Essex Regional School District78%4%1%I$20,922$2,230,018
Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School District89%1%0%J$20,967$2,406,670
Millstone Township School District76%9%1%I$21,042$1,400,088
Roosevelt Borough Public School District61%1%1%GH$21,057$876,496
Bethlehem Township School District84%3%1%I$21,148$1,218,865
Lebanon Township School District86%16%3%I$21,224$1,290,504
Florham Park School District68%1%3%I$21,250$2,876,537
River Vale Public School District74%1%1%I$21,272$1,484,848
Delaware Township School District78%5%2%GH$21,286$1,846,088
Mendham Borough School District80%4%3%J$21,300$1,952,166
Watchung Hills Regional High School District52%3%2%I$21,425$1,961,343
Fredon Township School District79%13%0%GH$21,437$1,250,363
Rockaway Township School District54%20%4%I$21,448$1,406,942
Readington Township School District72%15%2%I$21,534$1,690,847
Hunterdon Central Regional High School District67%19%5%I$21,535$1,368,175
Upper Saddle River School District63%0%2%J$21,601$1,784,885
Ringwood School District74%11%1%GH$21,646$1,173,707
Essex Fells School District76%0%0%J$21,647$2,297,446
Green Township School District81%11%0%I$21,677$866,980
Union Township School District74%6%2%GH$21,760$1,451,621
Morris Plains School District67%13%4%I$21,799$1,997,659
Paramus Public School District43%17%4%GH$21,824$3,062,844
Lenape Valley Regional High School District65%18%4%GH$21,846$842,850
Oceanport School District89%7%1%GH$21,857$2,100,984
Hanover Township School District62%6%4%I$21,863$2,521,053
Island Heights School District86%2%1%GH$21,917$1,934,654
Delaware Valley Regional High School District82%13%1%GH$21,960$1,232,068
Haworth Public School District62%0%5%I$22,033$1,582,638
East Amwell Township School District77%16%4%I$22,044$1,783,920
Boonton Township School District77%2%0%I$22,060$1,659,659
Mendham Township School District83%0%0%J$22,088$1,748,643
Oakland Public School District76%9%3%I$22,133$1,426,568
Wall Township Public School District83%12%2%GH$22,135$2,271,707
Princeton Public School District45%14%4%I$22,331$2,378,670
Monmouth Beach School District91%0%0%I$22,460$6,720,665
Morris Hills Regional School District49%22%5%GH$22,509$1,245,248
Teaneck School District11%46%5%GH$22,606$1,696,591
Branchburg Township School District62%12%2%I$22,618$2,107,581
West Orange Public Schools18%39%7%GH$22,741$992,920
Clinton Township School District72%13%3%I$22,746$1,367,529
Mahwah Township Public School District60%14%3%I$22,813$2,400,283
High Bridge Borough School District70%22%2%GH$22,897$857,159
Hopewell Valley Regional School District68%6%2%I$23,092$1,539,715
Franklin Township School District74%18%5%I$23,141$1,442,577
Mount Arlington Public School District43%25%8%GH$23,735$1,776,232
Ramsey School District76%7%3%I$23,898$1,560,248
Colts Neck Township School District87%3%1%I$23,955$2,322,403
Midland Park School District71%8%2%GH$24,440$1,569,577
Park Ridge School District70%9%2%I$24,472$1,581,949
North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District82%5%0%I$24,544$1,426,421
Bloomsbury Borough School District69%23%0%GH$24,580$870,182
Tewksbury Township School District77%4%1%J$24,584$2,434,475
Bedminster Township Public School District53%13%6%I$24,593$3,638,079
Mountain Lakes Public School District67%2%1%J$24,681$1,258,570
Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District81%2%1%I$24,826$1,894,171
Bay Head Borough School District90%0%0%I$24,912$27,834,838
South Hunterdon Regional School District64%30%8%I$24,980$1,936,377
Hanover Park Regional High School District72%4%3%GH$25,378$2,668,784
Shore Regional High School District82%15%2%GH$25,576$3,267,537
Warren Township School District53%9%4%I$25,577$2,086,300
Cranbury Township School District50%10%5%J$25,711$2,890,144
Monmouth Regional High School46%35%6%GH$25,995$2,205,552
Lebanon Borough School District76%16%0%I$26,020$1,748,372
Northern Valley Regional High School District51%1%2%I$26,406$1,546,869
Franklin Lakes School District76%3%1%I$26,548$2,774,823
Califon Borough School District76%0%0%I$26,616$1,419,963
Avon Boro School District88%14%4%I$26,624$11,656,592
Pascack Valley Regional High School District68%2%1%I$27,574$1,603,043
Englewood Cliffs School District26%0%9%I$28,747$8,177,879
Harding Township School District83%3%1%J$29,506$5,917,159
Sea Girt Borough School District80%0%0%I$29,592$21,036,642
Alpine Public School District56%0%4%I$30,229$9,597,392
Spring Lake Borough95%4%0%I$32,099$28,190,916
Saddle River School District64%0%0%J$43,763$8,091,611



* Yes, this matters. I have been working with this data for some time, and I will tell you there are always significant difference between what districts budget to spend in a year, and what they actually spend. I always use the latest "actual" spending figures, and not the "budgeted" figures, because the actual figures are audited and represent real, and not projected, spending.


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